John Oliver slammed Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi, Hindu nationalism and censorship on Sunday’s edition of ‘Last Week Tonight’.
The British-American comedian noted that India’s election results will be announced on June 4 and this is almost a guarantee that Modi will remain in power. “One polling organization found that he has a 74% approval rating, more than any world leader they track,” Oliver noted.
However, Oliver noted that this is not the first time the show has covered Modi and his steady attempt to transform India, one of the world’s largest countries, into a Hindu nationalist state. Oliver said Modi and his party have “rejected India’s history as a pluralistic nation and are trying to push it toward becoming an explicitly Hindu nation.”
Moreover, the comedian emphasized that there is a reason why Modi is very popular among his voters. Oliver said he has campaigned on “expanding access to sanitation and water facilities and has invested billions in a nationwide upgrade of the country’s roads, railways, airports and seaports.” In addition, there have been programs to alleviate poverty, for which some citizens thank him personally.” But the biggest reason for Modi’s success is his economic record. During his tenure, the country “has grown into the fifth largest economy in the world. It is almost twice as big as it was, and the stock market has tripled since he took office.”
But there is an important caveat, Oliver noted, as India has changed the way it defines poverty to a measure that includes fewer people than before. “Right, anyone can get rid of ‘all’ poverty if you just change the definition of ‘poor people’ to something else, like, I don’t know, ‘fire hydrants’ or ‘opposite hoses,'” Oliver joked.
The show also highlighted the growing wealth gap between the country’s rich and poor. “By some estimates, just a million people now control about 80% of India’s wealth. And as they have gotten richer, much of the country has gotten poorer,” Oliver said.
And as this wealth gap widens, criticizing Modi and his party has become increasingly difficult because censorship is running wild and billionaires related to Modi own some media companies, Oliver continued.
“Basically, if you criticize Modi, chances are it’s going to be very unpleasant for you. And given that we’re here in America, I’m honestly not too worried about Modi’s goons coming after me Oliver joked. .
“But if their reach extends that far, you know what? Just try it. Do you want to try to silence us for being critical? I dare you. Do you have any idea who I am? “I’m Bill f***ing Maher, and my show has been around for over twenty years, and if you want to take us down, do your best,” he joked.
Oliver said that “Last Week Tonight” has also been censored in India. The crackdown creates “a distinct chilling effect where media outlets may be intimidated by criticizing Modi. That might actually help explain why Hotstar, the platform we were on in 2020, mysteriously chose to air our episode featuring Modi to criticize, to block.”
In addition, Oliver spoke about the growing and disturbing anti-Muslim sentiment in India, amid rising Hindu nationalism. In one case, Modi opened a Hindu temple built on the site of a mosque demolished by a Hindu mob in the 1990s in a conflict that left more than 2,000 mostly Muslim people dead.
Oliver said: “He asked a Briton, ‘What should we do about India?’ is a bit dangerous, because we tend to have quite a few ideas, none of which should be listened to. But as an international community, it seems high time to put an end to the uncritical fawning praise of a man who does that. well, to say the least, is a very complicated figure.”
However, he understands that “this episode will almost certainly not air in India. And depending on what they do with the laws around YouTube, I’m not entirely sure what will happen with that either. So if this show gets taken down, and if If you have friends or family who live in India and would like to see them, encourage them to visit OppositeSnakes.com where they will find tons of fascinating facts about opposite snakes, as well as a 25-minute video entitled ‘Opposite Snakes’ , which is basically the whole story.”
Last Week Tonight with John Oliver airs Sundays at 11pm ET on Max.
